Wimbledon: Serena suffers early exit; Halep beats Muchova

LONDON: Playing her first singles match after a year, American tennis great Serena Williams suffered a first-round exit on Tuesday after facing defeat against unseeded Harmony Tan at Wimbledon 2022.

The 23 Grand Slam title winner went down 7-5, 1-6, 7/6 (10/7) to unseeded Harmony Tan, who is competing in her first Wimbledon.

In the longest match of the tournament so far, Tan twice came back from a break down in the third set to notch just the third Grand Slam main-draw win of her career. Tan eliminated 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams after three hours and 10 minutes of gripping play.

Meanwhile, Simona Halep started her Wimbledon campaign on a winning note defeating Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova in straight sets.

She needed just 65 minutes to wrap up a 6-3, 6-2 victory and reach Round Two.

No.4 seed Paula Badosa needed less than an hour to dispatch Louisa Chirico in 56 minutes, 6-2, 6-1. Badosa will next face Romania’s Irina Bara in Round two.

Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova avoided a first-round loss at Wimbledon against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.

After dropping the first set in less than a half-hour, Kvitova bounced back for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win in 1 hour, 42 minutes. Kvitova broke Paolini when the Italian served at 3-3 in the second set, and never trailed from then on.